Maggie Downie, Author at Personal Euphoria: Pilates & Fitness Classes in CT

About Maggie Downie

Thank you for giving your time to stop and read my blog. I hope it encourages you to keep moving. Move and the body will be happier. And when you're moving you can hike, run, swim in Jell-O, race over non-Newtonian fluids, travel the world or build igloos--if that's your thing. If not, you can watch me do it. This is just a spot to try and feel good about life.

Twenty Steps to Make A Rainbow Igloo

This project was so much fun. I’m so glad I did it. That being said, I doubt I’d ever do it again. But it’s totally worth it. Here is how we did it and what we learned along the way:

Collect over 500 half gallon, cardboard containers. If you get about 520 to 530 that should be more than enough with some room for error.

Notes: Fake stuff smells the worst. Year old soy products, coconut milk and lactaid milk smells even worse than year old egg nog. You’ve been warned. Also, most people don’t use half gallons, so get as many people collecting for you as possible. If you think that on trash night you can go recycling bin-to-recycling bin and find half gallons, don’t waste your time. People just don’t use them. Find your friends, family and local businesses that do and ask them to collect them for you.

2. Rinse them out and open the tops.

Notes: I didn’t rinse all of them, which I came to regret. And the ones I opened froze faster and were easier to fill and carry. It’s more work in the beginning, but will pay off in the end.

3. Fill with water and a little […]

Twenty Steps to Make A Rainbow IglooMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:13-04:00

Six Reasons to Slow Down Your Workout

We tend to think bigger is better. We have to work harder and faster or we aren’t getting a good enough workout. Sometimes we even use this as an excuse not to exercise. But research is showing we can chill out. You don’t have to go hard or go home. You can just move. Here are some research points in favor of a gentler workout:

Run Slow (10-min mile)

Running ten-minute miles and under 15-miles a week is more beneficial to your heart health than running faster for longer, which actually diminishes the gain for your heart. So slow down and enjoy the run. And stop calling yourself a jogger at a 10-minute mile. It’s not 1970. You’re out there running with everyone else. You’re a runner.

Pilates Good For Your Mind

A small study showed that 10-weeks of Pilates increases memory, cognitive function and neural network activity. You won’t be surprised if you’ve done Pilates. It’s basically the exercise for multi-taskers. There’s a lot going on at the same time.

Aerobic Exercises Creates New Neurons

That’s right. Exercise is one of the few things, if not the only thing, in life that creates and builds new neurons in the brain. This should be reason enough […]

Six Reasons to Slow Down Your WorkoutMaggie Downie2017-10-25T15:49:49-04:00

Multi-Colored Igloo: A Little Winter Magic

It all started with a Facebook post. My friend Amy (who we once went dog sledding with) saw that a family in Canada had made an igloo out of ice blocks. She posted it on my page and suggested I do it.

500 Cartons Freezing Outside.

Sold. I started collecting half gallon, cardboard containers. My clients dragged bags of them to classes, Stew Leonard’s in Newington gave me a ton. Friends and family collected them. I even went dumpster diving in my neighborhood on trash night in hopes of collecting enough. And then Amy saved the day. She drove 150 cartons from Fairfield, but it all came too late. It was mid-March by the time we had over 500 cartons and it was too warm outside.

The cartons spent a year in my garage and a hallway upstairs. Luckily they didn’t smell that bad. I, perhaps, was the only person hoping 2015 would be another cold, snowy winter. Got my wish. So I started filling the cartons with water and food coloring and […]

Multi-Colored Igloo: A Little Winter MagicMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:13-04:00

Oh, Costochondritis: Wish You’d Stop Giving Me A Ribbing

Laughter is the best medicine, unless, of course, you have costochondritis.

Months ago I had a cough. Then I developed rib pain. It was so painful I thought I’d cracked a rib. Went to the doc. They took x-rays and said nothing was cracked, so that meant I had costochondritis. That’s inflammation of the cartilage between the ribs, usually caused from a prolonged or hard cough. The doctor suggested I take Aleve. I did that and modified some of my exercises because certain things just hurt too much to do. A month later it was mostly gone when I sneezed and found myself back at square one. (It was not a good day and a pint of ice cream was consumed.)

This round was even worse, for about two days driving hurt, breathing hurt. I was scared to move. I was terrified to sneeze. I couldn’t get comfortable in bed. I went back to the doc sure that I’d done something worse. Nope. It was still just costochondritis. Doctors don’t get up in arms about costochondritis. They act like it’s no big deal. But I make my living moving. And movement is what keeps me sane, so it’s […]

Oh, Costochondritis: Wish You’d Stop Giving Me A RibbingMaggie Downie2019-01-22T12:38:55-05:00

Welcome to Jordan

“You are welcome to Jordan” was the phrase we heard from almost everyone we met on our recent whirlwind trip to the Middle East. “Please, go home and tell your friends and family they are welcome to Jordan too.” Jordan, like Turkey, is a predominately safe country with some very difficult neighbors. It doesn’t have any state issued travel warnings. Mexico does. (Just to provide a little perspective.)

The curbs were the most colorful part of Amman.

I was nervous about traveling to Jordan until I got there. Even though the flights were long, it was worth the trip. We had three days in country which gave us time to see Amman, the Dead Sea, Petra and spend the night in the Wadi Rum.

Amman had some good local food and dabbled in interesting graffiti, but in my short stay there I didn’t see much else worth discovering. It’s a very beige city—the Earth and buildings are the same color.

Floating in the Dead Sea

The Dead Sea disappointed in its beauty […]

Welcome to JordanMaggie Downie2017-10-25T14:24:29-04:00

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